The so-called conventional emergency broadcast system was used between 1963 and 1997 to notify television viewers of an emergency. In general, the emergency broadcast system provided the president a way to quickly communicate an emergency message to the public. For example, in the event of an emergency, broadcast stations would receive an analog emergency message produced by the president. In accordance with emergency broadcast rules, the broadcast stations would nationally broadcast the analog-based emergency message in lieu of an originally scheduled analog signal. In this manner, the public could be easily notified in the event of an emergency.
In contrast to the conventional emergency broadcast system implemented years ago, it is now more common than ever for computer users to stream video via IPTV (Internet Protocol TeleVision) to their playback devices (e.g., iPad™, iPod™, personal computer, etc.). The mode of distributing content via IPTV is substantially different than prior conventional methods of broadcasting content, which was transmitted via analog signals. In accordance with IPTV and other digital broadcasts, and in contrast to prior analog transmissions, today, portions of content are digitized into data packets that are subsequently transmitted to a subscriber domain.
In accordance with digital content distribution services and one proposed type of conventional emergency notification method, a server in the network can receive notification of an emergency message. Via transmission of individual unicast-type messages to playback devices in the network environment, the playback devices can be notified of the occurrence of the emergency and corresponding message. Upon receipt of the notification, playback devices tune to a different channel to receive and playback an available emergency message. In this manner, subscribers can be notified in the event of an emergency.